Is there a handbook about this?
You're a Wizard. You have a stronghold, smaller than a city and larger than a cottage, which you wish to protect against the numerous enemies you've made (or otherwise interested parties who may want to visit uninvited). This is a long-term, non-specific endeavour; you're not aware of any particular threat, you just want to be able to kick back while you're at home.
You have time aplenty, being a Wizard and all, but you don't want to blow all your wealth on this because you have better things to buy, and you don't want to rely on others too much because a) that tends to be expensive, and b) you don't really trust them (and before you suggest it, you don't want to take the risk of dominating someone only to have him natural-20 his save and start a fuss). Since this is for the long term and you have an adventuring life on the side, you can't blow half your spell slots every day renewing those defenses either.
In short: how do you build long-term defenses for your stronghold relying only on arcane magic cast by yourself, for a reasonable cost and time/energy/XP expended, with low to no maintenance required, and preferably without your DM chucking books at you? I'm leaving the wizard's level open intentionally.
3.5e, all books allowed, no Dragon Mag (I mean, that's how I roll, but feel free to suggest something outside these guidelines if it's super effective).
edit: since that's the first thing I expect you guys to go to, let's rule out self-resetting traps, because I'm honestly not satisfied with the cost/efficiency mechanics of those.
Telok
2014-11-24, 08:28 PM
I have a couple of NPC casters with mage towers that I used in a campaign once. There were some minor modifications to magic to cut down on long range teleportation, scry-and-die, and strategic level flight but nothing really major should have changed. Oh, I didn't use XP and silver replaced it for spell components, this drove the price of silver up to that of gold or higher depending on the local economy. So these people used Limited Wish to emulate Psychic Reformation on a regular basis.
Tower 80' diameter, 160' high, flat top, no windows. Stone Shape/ Wall of Stone/ Hardening(Eb p112)/ Stone Metamorphosis(Und p61) basalt walls (hardness 21, 1500hp/5', climb dc 25). Forbiddance inside and within 10' of the exterior walls, so no teleportation, plane shifting, or summoning. Erika commonly uses Passwall to open a room for summoning or teleportation. The tower is druid Hallowed. Giving Magic Circle vs Dark alignment (non-Light summoned creatures cannot enter [SR 32+ ignores], everyone is immune to mental control, and everyone has +2 AC and saves vs Dark aligned attacks and spells. Permanent False Vision shows the tower abandoned and empty to all scrying attempts. Permanent Mirage Arcana starts in the entry way and disguises the fact that the corridor slopes downward and spirals to the left, the entire above ground structure is solid stone (Permanent False Vision!). All interior doors have a lead sheet in them and an Alarm spell trap(dc26) on the back that tells Erika which door was opened. If the intruders never turn around and check the back of the door they'll never know that these exist.
Erika Redmark wizard 13, archmage 3...
Ring of Arcane Might, Robe of Arcane Might, Vials of the Last Gasp(5), Bracers of Blinding Strike, Eager Warning punching dagger, Ring of Wizardry(2nd level), Lesser Rod of Metamagic Quicken, +3 Vest of Resistance, 4kgp perfect star sapphire necklace...
Her base caster level is 22, using Limited Wish(Consumptive Field) and a Vial will get her to a max of CL32.
8:Scintillating Pattern, Mass Charm Monster(dc29), expended spell [Mind Blank, divination, or custom spell]
7:Limited Wish x2, Heightened Confusion(dc28, CL25), expended spell
6:Greater Heroism, Summon Monster VI(large elemental 44rnds), Open Slot, expended spell
5:Greater Blink, Feeblemind(dc26), Passwall(needed for Summon), expended spell
4:Spell Enhancer, Mystic Surge, Lesser Globe of Invulnerability, expended spell x2
3:Dispel Magic x2, Protection from Energy(120), Displacement, expended spell
2:Invisibility, Mirror Image(d4+7), Nerveskitter, Hideous Laughter(dc23) x3, Resist Energy (30), expended spell x3
1:Shield, Charm Person(dc22) x2, expended spell x2
Erika's apartments are separated from the lizard enclosure by a 5' stone wall with an invisible 10x5 section for a window (hard 9, 1200hp per 5'sq) as a window and a permanent illusion of a portcullis next to it. The real door is stone and five feet further over (illusion dc19). The floor is smooth-ish natural stone and lighting is provided by hundreds of magic symbols on the ceiling (glowing visible arcane marks). 45 feet from the NE corner is the center of a Energy Transformation Field linked to a Rejuvenation Cocoon spell(cl30). A further 50 feet to the SW of that are two Symbols hidden in plain sight among all the others, Spell Loss(dc35, trigger saying "boom" or attacking Erikas) and Weakness(trigger saying "blammo" or attacking Erikas). The room has furniture and shelves of books (all books Fire Trap cl20, dc21) to funnel people under the Symbols. Given ANY warning Erika's Simulacrum will be at a table 15 feet north of the Symbols reading, while Erika herself is in the NE corner invisible and illusioned up as a stone golem. Given a minute or more Erika will have Greater Arcane Sight, See Invisible, and Shield up, with a Transfix spell (dc29 duration 48hr) centered at the Symbols. She has a Contingency (I know she banned evocation but she has scrolls) for "Anything that would kill me" to activate a cl33 extended heightened Magic Jar (dc29 and equal to a 10th level spell).
Other bits: Potions; cure moderate*2, less restore*3, remove paralysis*2, spiderclimb*3, neut poison*2, remove curse, remove disease*2, water walk*3, good hope*4. Scrolls; detect undead*6, unseen servant*2, [d]augury*5, detect thoughts*2, rope trick, silence*2, glibness, vampritic touch*3, [d]deathward*2, [d]divination*4, [d]spike stones, teleport*3, black tentacles, [d]mark of justice. About 1k gold, 3k arcane reagents, 5k silver, and lots of really nice clothes.
Location: 50 miles due W of Fort Spire.
Near Skarragath there is a witch's hut with a hag that asks the players to get some purple fungus from around the cave for her, in return she'll tell you to check for illusions in Erika's tower.
The front door is a permanent circular wall of fire facing inward (CL30) but inside is a nice little bed & breakfast place with a couple unseen servants to keep it tidy. On the E wall is a door with a plaque "One goblin tells the truth, the other lies. Pierce the lies to get the prize." Inside is a square room with two goblin soulbows (marble blocks to the knee, marble statue to the waist, normal above that, small table w/ playing cards) against the center of the N wall and a door on either side of them. The doors lead to nightingale floored hallways that end in doors with waiting hellcats behind them. The illusionary wall behind the goblins (they both lie like crazy) leads to darkness trap/ward and then a mated pair of basilisks. The wall the darkness ward is on is a secret door to a wide hallway. After you pass the 4 flesh golems and 4 wights in the hallway there is a smaller hall with two doors, the S door leads back to the B&B (covered with an illusion on that side) and the E door leads to the "garden". There is a door on the N wall covered by another bloody illusion, that one just leads to Erika's work/living areas. The garden has 6 giant lizards and a dozen violet fungi around it. Erika Redmark is an important plot NPC and the higest level Exile caster barring the great dragons.
Solberg, L15 human sorcerer...
Spells Always known: 7:Limited wish, one necromancy, 6:Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability, one necromancy, 5:Greater Blink, Private Sanctum, one necromancy, 4:Resilient Sphere, Detect Scrying, one necromancy, 3:Dispel Magic, Gaseous Form, Vampritic Touch, 2:Familiar Pocket, Blind-sight, False Life, Blindness, 1:Know Protections, Grease, Shield. Often Known: 7:Waves of Exhaustion, Sword of Darkness, Summon Undead XII, 6: Undeath to Death, Eyebite, Prismatic Eye, Greater Dispel, Planar Binding, 5:Fleshshiver, Cyclonic Blast, Sending, Contact Other Plane, Freezing Fog, 4:Wrack, Enervation, Scrying, 3:Enhance Familiar, Arcane Sight, Nondetection, 2:Hideous Laughter, See Invisible, Glitterdust, 1:Truestrike, Empathy, Obscuring Mist, Protection from Evil.
Tower 40' diameter, 80' high, flat top. One door (wooden hardness 5, 20 hp, break dc 35, wizard lock dispel check 26), no windows. Enchanted hewn stone basalt walls 3' thick (hardness 16, 1080 hp, climb dc 25, break dc 70, saves +9).
Forbiddance inside and within 10' of the walls (but only 2' above the top), so no teleportation, plane shifting, or summoning. Minor Creation a 25" high platform on the roof for calling spells.
Permanent False Vision shows the tower abandoned and empty to all scrying attempts. In the vision there are stairs in the tower.
The first floor is druid Hallowed. Giving Freedom of Movement to anyone who worships Sif Muna on that level and Magic Circle vs Dark alignment (non-Light summoned creatures cannot enter [SR 28+ ignores], everyone is immune to mental control, and everyone has +2 AC and saves vs Dark aligned attacks and spells.
Each floor has an Illusionary Wall spell that seems to be a staircase going to the other floors.
First floor: Wood paneled walls and ceilings, a couple of wooden closets with travel clothes, a large table in the middle of the room with six chairs, a decent couch upholstered in green lizard leather against one wall, and a Continual Flame lamp hanging on a chain from the center of the ceiling. The ceiling is a permanent Minor Creation wood panel 1/2" thick. On the stone ceiling (same as the tower walls) are inscribed Symbol of Weakness (Necro, save no, SR yes, 3d6 Str dmg), Symbol of Sleep (Ench, compulsion, mind affecting, Wneg20, SR yes, <10HD sleep for 3d6*10 min), Symbol of Pain (Necro, dark, Fneg20, SR yes, -4 attacks skills ability checks for 1 hour), Symbol of Persuasion (Ench, charm, mind affecting, Wneg21, SR yes, charmed for 15 hours), Symbol of Fear (Necro, fear, mind affecting, Wneg21, SR yes, up to 150hp of targets panicked for 15 rounds). There is a Glyph of Warding on the Continual Flame lamp hanging from the ceiling, it will cast Dispel Magic on the false ceiling if there is an attack made within 30 feet by anyone other than Solberg or his familiar.
Second floor: A nice big four poster bed, a kitchenette, a big easy-chair, a table piled with books, and the same lighting fixture as the first floor. The Symbols are on the walls here and the dispelling Glyph is on the bed posts, the trigger remains the same.
Third floor: Bookshelves line the walls and five tables with books and magical paraphernalia on them clutter the room. The Symbols of Weakness, Sleep, and Pain are on the ceiling, while the Symbols of Persuasion, Fear, and a second Weakness are on the floor. These Symbols are not covered and will activate if anyone but Solberg or his familiar enter the room.
The rooms are 12' tall with 3' thick ceilings/floors. In an 80' high tower this leaves a 30' high 'attic' waiting to be filled. It's empty except for some stone chests with huge bones in them (three complete hill giant skeletons in six chests and one 11 headed hydra skeleton in four chests). The Symbols are on the ceiling five feet from the wall and spaced equidistantly. These Symbols are not covered and will activate if anyone but Solberg or his familiar enter the room.
Movement between floors is by means of Gaseous Form through S-shaped pencil sized holes in the ceiling/floor. The holes are spaced five feet apart around the circumference of the rooms. The first and second floor holes are concealed behind carved wooden molding at the join between the wall and ceiling or floor. On the third floor the holes are hidden behind the floor to ceiling bookshelves. The holes in the ceiling of the 'attic' lead outside two feet below the top of the tower.
Fuzzy McCoy
2014-11-25, 01:29 AM
Level 11 is about the earliest to truly be able to guard a place - this is when Guards and Wards (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/guardsAndWards.htm) comes online. The huge area makes it feasible for defending a stronghold. Also of use is the aforementioned Hardening spell from eberron and (greater) stone metamorphis. Magically treated walls (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/dungeons.htm) (under special walls) and the Augment Object spell from the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook can make your walls, windows, and doors laugh in the face of just about anything short of disintegrate. Inscriptions of Vacancy, found in the Draconomicon, prevent all scrying in the area it's inscribed to, and is relatively cheap.
Level 11 also gives you access to Planar Binding - good candidates for it are the Trumpet Archon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/archon.htm) or the Ghaele Eladrin (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ghaele.htm). Both cast as 14th level clerics, giving you access to stone metamorphis and forbiddance.
Congratulations! You now have a stronghold that can't be scryed on or teleported into, and should an unpleasant person or army attempt to enter, anything short of a disintegrate will fall, and possibly even disintigrate - your walls get saving throws, and 5d6 if they make the save will inconvenience them but little else.
Maintenance is pretty low too - Augment Object is the only spell that requires renewal, and the duration is 1 day/lvl, so it's not exactly an inconvenience.
jedipotter
2014-11-25, 03:21 AM
1.Alarm The most basic and simple of all place protection magics, but still useful. At low levels you will need to cast it only when you wish to be on guard, but after a couple of levels it will last a good while. It can be used to nicely alert guards. The Stone of Alarm is a very cheap item that can be bought or created to fill in gaps.
Arcane Lock Very basic again. Every door or such should have this cast on it.
Leomund's Trap The first illusion spell to fool intruders. It has a bit of cost, but it can be covered easy enough.
Magic Mouth This is a great improved alarm. And it nicely alerts guards too.
Explosive Runes This should cover all books and writings everywhere. It's great to put on signs, and you can have signs all over the place.
Secret Page Can hide, or change the wording on a page. And it works with Explosive Runes and other spells. A great trick is to change the text of anything into some text you know will be tempting to an individual breaking in. If you think Zon might break in looking for your new fire spell, you can take any scroll of any spell and make a trap, just for them to find....
Sepia Snake Sigil is nice, but has a bit of a cost. But if you can pay it, it's a fine spell that most texts should not be without. And it works great on bait text too.
Illusory Script This is just made for signs. You can change a sign to say anything, but it does not matter, as the suggestion is the part you want. This is a great way for you to have intruders set off traps or do things that would be problematic, harmful or dangerous to them. A ''turn around and forget this sign exists'' could get an intruder stuck in a loop. Even better is having them (unknowingly) activate a trap, so suggestions like ''open the door'' or ''touch that chest'' or to ''read'' any of the trapped texts around in the room.
Fire Trap It does not do too much damage, and has a slight cost, but it's still not a bad spell to trap anything that can be opened.
Illusionary Wall keep in mind this can be a floor, ceiling or such too. This spell should be cast as much as possible to create endless false walls. You can change the whole layout of each room. This spell is great for covering stairs or pits. And you can do wonders when you make a room look a bit smaller then it really is, maybe with a surprise behind the walls.
Mordenkainem's Private Sanctum A great once a day spell for an important room.
Mirage Arcana the next step up from just a wall. Make a whole room look like something else. And the nice bit: you can add rooms where there is not one. This works great with inner courtyards. They open a door and see a libiary...but it's all and illusion over the courtyard, and they might just fall for it. This spell can also make illusions of doors and stairs too.
Guards and Wards Has no cost and lots of useful effects. And by the time it's being cast, it lasts all day. It's a great spell to cast once a day. The fog and arcane locks are nice, but the confusion is great. And can be combined with the Illusionary Script suggestion too. And this confusion has no save. The other great ability is the in place suggestion.
Permanent Image Bit of a cost, but you can make a permanent illusion of anything.
Programmed Image slight cost, but it gives you a set programed image.
Dimensional Lock Cast once every couple weeks on an important room.
Sympathy a once a day spell with a bit of a cost, but it's great for traps.
Screen is a nice once a day spell. This spell can hide a whole room full of guardian monsters. And it's great for misdirecting scrying.
Symbol(all) the symbol spells have quite a cost to them, but if you can meet it, they are great spells. You can set any sort of trigger as needed and place them anywhere.
Permanency high cost, but great rewards. a lot of the spells above like alarm can be made permanent. Note all the Symbol spells can be, and that can greatly reduce the cost of casting them often. Wall of force is the ultimate block for a door or hallway. And teleportation circle can send folks to a dragons lair, or even just a trap room.
Spell Compendium
Greater Alarm just like alarm above, but greater.
Earthlock a must for all unworked tunnels. And it only has a slight cost. Should be cast on all possible sections of a tunnel.
Ghoul Glyph as it has no cost and last until used, every five feet of everywhere should have one.
Sign of Sealing for a small cost you can both lock something and have it do damage when it's opened.
Skull Watch It's permanent alarm, with lesser coverage...but it also alerts the caster.
Refusal the small area and short duration make this only useful for a once a day casting, or to be cast when you know company is coming. Note that as a bonus, this spell does redirect teleports to a safe place.
Hardening bit of a cost, but a great way to protect and object. Even just a couple points of hardness can keep an item around a round or two longer to delay attackers.
Transfix a useful once a day spell, and can work great with a suggestion, like from an illusionary script.
Energy Transformation Field high cost, but lots of effects. Can be used to set off any of the ''once a day '' spells. A caster can charge the field to cast the spell when needed. It's a great way to get semi permanent effects of any protection spell, without the caster casting the spell.
jedipotter
2014-11-25, 01:27 PM
Magic Items In place, stationary items that do something for an area are not too common, but you get:
The Stone of Alarm nice and useful.
Intelligent Magic Items You can make items as guards. At the low end, you can make cheep items that can cast things like daze monster or hold person on intruders. For more gold you can get dimensional anchor or dismissal. And even more gold gives you fireball, lighting bolt or greater shout.
And you can make an intelligent magic item anything, like a bookcase or a statue or a rug.
Cursed Items make for great traps. Place them around your place, or fill a safe or vault with a couple. You won't ever use them, but others...
Magic Item Compendium
Blast Disk cheep and great for traps. The damage is slight, but the item is cheep. You can't bypass it, so it works best in pits, on false doors or other places you won't go near.
Glyph Seal and Greater Glyph Seal A great, nice, cheep item that can hold a 1st or 2nd level spell(or higher for the greater one) as a trap.
Sleeping Spike not a great item, but could be useful.
Stunning Spike bit more useful.
Shining South
Dweomered Doors Magic doors are obvious to have. Examples are given that are useful are the holding door, door of beasts, door of derangement(deaf, blind and feeblemind), door of mirrors, and door of negation. Though only examples are given, so other types are possible.
Players Guide to Faerun
Weirdstone very expensive, but very powerful. Blocks all scrying and teleporting....for 6 miles. It's a bit of over kill though as it effects all magic, even your own.
Heroes of Battle
Magic Siege Weapons the self loading ones are nice, though you still need someone to fire it. And there is plenty of magic ammunition.
jedipotter
2014-11-26, 03:06 PM
Constructs You can find constructs scatter across the books. And constructs make the perfect guards. You can find any constructs to if your budget and whatever you might need.
Undead Again they are scattered across the books and make perfect guards. You can create a good number or control them.
Plants And again they are scattered across the books and make perfect guards. You can create them, buy them or just hunt them down and transplant them.
Traps of course are obvious.
Special Materials Found in the DMG and Dungeonscape. Though the rules a vague and they don't have costs. But still if you can make a wall of ooze, or a wall of bone, they have some nice effects. And the floors too, like floors of flesh or ooze. And doors too.
Living Figureheads From Stormwrack. A figurehead is just a wooden statue, a magical animated construct. It does not have to be on a ship. Though the only useful one is the dragon one. A dragon head is intelligent, can communicate with it's master telepathically, has a bite, and a breath weapon that can be used every couple rounds. It does need to be activitaed and has liited use times and costs a bit. But can still make a great addition to a room.
Lair Wards in the Draconomicon are a bit vague, and don't have many rules. But if you can they are great additions to any area.
Spellbook Enchantments Magic of Fareun has a tiny section about protection spellbooks. And the best one is Spelltrapped. That lets you put any spell that can be put in a trap can be put in the book. This could of course be used to trap any spellbook you have laying around. And, maybe, as long as you pay the ''spellbook'' cost, there is not reason you can't add this to any object.
And it's 3.0, but the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook is full of things to use.....
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